Stringed musical instrusvi emt



(No Model.)

O. HENLEIN.

STRINGED MUSIGAL INSTRUMENT.

No. 578,872. Patented Mar. 16, 1897.

I/I/TNEssE' NYENTUR @5m 4 Q7) ZM www UNITED STATES PATENT f ENCE.

CHARLES HENLEIN, OF ONOINNATI, OHIO.

STRINGED WEUSEGAL. lNSTRUiVihiT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters lEatent No. 578,872, dated March16, 189'?.

Application filed July 6, 1896.

To all whom t may 0071/067711.-

Be it known that I, CnAELns HENLETN, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stringed Musicallnstruments, of which the following is a speciiication.

The object of my invention is to provide a string instrument, such asmandolins, violins, duc., upon which the notes that can be played in thesix positions upon the ordinary instrument may be played in oneposition; that is, without moving the hand that does the lingering, thussaving the student the time and labor necessary to learn the severalpositions and the performer the labor and attention required in shiftingfrom one position to the other. The tones upon my instrument are alsomore mellow and less metallic than upon the ordinary instruments.

The invention consists, essential. y, in shortening and widening thefinger-board of the instrument, shortening the strings, and adding anadditional string, as shown in the accompanying drawing, which is afront view of a mandolin embodying my invention.

The body A and head B are of ordinary construction, except that the headis wider in proportion than those upon the ordinary mandolins and hastwo additional keys for the extra string which is added. The neck ornnger-board O is made wider and of a length between the body A and thehead to receive the hand without any provision for sliding up or down onthe neck. In the ordinary mandolin there are but tour double strings. lnmy improvement there is an extra double string D. The strings beingshorter are made heavier than those used upon the ordinary instrument togive the same tone when the strings are open, and being heavier the tonehas greater Volume, is softer and less metallic than in the lighterlonger strings usually used. The tuning, fingering, reading, and

general performance upon this instrument is Serial lio. 598,075. (Nomodel.)

the same as upon the ordinary mandolin, including even the added fifthstring, which is fingered the same as the other strings in the oneposition.

rlhe scale upon this instrument consists of all the tones between andincluding G below the staff to high F in altissimo above the staff, (onetone less than four octaves or one oct-ave lower than on the otherinstruments.) The lowest string E is tuned open to G below the stall".rlhe next string to it, F, is tuned open to D,7 one-iifth higher. Thethird string G is tuned open to A, onefth higher than the D string. Thestring Il is tuned open to Ej one-iifth higher than the A string', andthe 'first or added string D is tuned open to 13, one-fifth higher thanE or the highest string on the ordinary mandolin or Violin.

It is well known to musicians that the highest position on both theviolin and mandolin is the most difficult to learn and requires greatcare and practice to perform properly in these high positions. Upon myinstrument there is but one position required and sin times the laborsaved in learning and performing on it.

lVhat l claim isl. The hereinbefore-described instrument having theshort neck, wide linger-board and the added string, said neck being ofsuch length that all the iingering may be accomplished while the hand isin a single position, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination in a mandolin of the body, the neck, the wideiinger-board and head, and the additional iifth string, said neck andfinger-board between the head and body being of such length that all thelingering may be accomplished while the hand is in a single position,substantially as shown and described.

CHARLES HENLEIN.

Witnesses:

SnEEwooD R. TAYLOR,

EMMA. LYnonD.

